Boughey Breaks Into Big League With 800k Night Of Thunder Colt At Tattersalls

[Wandering Eyes]

TATTERSALLS, ENGLAND – Trainer George Boughey was the latest big name to join the Night Of Thunder fan club at Tattersalls when going to 800,000gns to secure a colt by the stallion on behalf of leading owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum. 

Boughey has enjoyed success with the progeny of Night Of Thunder already, notably through that owner's Bow Echo, who was last seen winning the G2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket in September. 

The Wednesday sale-topper was consigned by New England Stud and Boughey drew comparisons to his Group 2 winner by the stallion shortly after outbidding Anthony Stroud on the colt.

He said, “We had some stiff competition – he has been bought for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid and he looks very similar to Bow Echo. Sheikh Obaid picked him out and obviously we are delighted to train him. The colt is from a good family and the mare was a Listed winner. He looks like he will be one for next summer onwards. Sheikh Obaid is a patient owner and hopefully this colt can emulate what Bow Echo did.”

Boughey added, “We have had three or four by the sire and they have all won their maidens, but Bow Echo is the first with us to go on and look like a better horse. It is great to have the horse in the barn.”

The sale-topping colt is out of Golden Horn mare Quenelle D'Or and was offered by New England Stud on behalf of breeders Lady Riblat and Stanley House Stud. 

New England's Peter Stanley said, “For a first foal to fetch that sort of price, it is magnificent. It is really thrilling, but Night Of Thunder is an incredible stallion. He is upgrading his mares to an extraordinary level and we are lucky we have taken the punt and used him. We used him a few times and it is paying off.”

He added, “I thought this would be one of the nicest horses in the ring this week and I said to my brother that this horse could make any amount of money. You start at a level and you need two people to lock horns and we were lucky that two great judges were there and did just that. I do think he will be a racehorse – he has it all. He has class and he has a lovely outlook. We have been excited about him for a long time.

“I don't think Lady Riblat has had a broodmare before. My brother [Lord Derby] raced Quenelle D'Or with John and Lady Riblat. They had a lot of fun, so I said to them at the end, 'Why would you want to sell her?' So, we played the breeding game. John had heard that you always lose money breeding horses. I had him on the phone during the bidding and he enjoyed every minute.”

The Night Of Thunder colt was the headline act on the final day of what has been another record-breaking sale at Park Paddocks. The 69,657,500gns climbed 2%, which is a record, as is the median, which climbed 9% to 76,000gns. The average dropped by 1% to 107,496 while the clearance rate was also down by just 1% to 90%.

“Life-Changing” Pinhooking Profit For Cope And Company

One of the stories of the day, if not the entire Book 2 sale, came when Stanley Lodge manager Nick Cope, along with Ard Erin Stud's Tom and David Brickley, transformed their 80,000gns foal purchase by Camelot into a 475,000gns yearling to Alex Elliott, bidding on behalf of MV Magnier and Peter Brant. 

The Camelot colt, who is out of the Listed-winning Clodovil mare Tigrilla, was one of the talking horses coming into the final day of Book 2 and he didn't disappoint. Eventually, it was Elliott who saw off the attention of Anthony Stroud to provide Cope with his greatest day on a sales complex. 

“It's my biggest day in the game by a long, long way,” an emotional Cope said. “It's very emotional. When a horse like him, who was a pleasure to deal with the whole way through and was just an absolute gentleman of a horse, does that for you, it's amazing. He is one of those horses who just thrived every day for us. This is life-changing for me. It's massive. Absolutely massive.”

Along with the Brickley brothers, Cope sourced the Camelot colt from Baroda Stud at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale. He was making all of the right noises coming into Wednesday's session, with Cope admitting it was a bit of a struggle to keep a lid on his emotions as the horse entered the ring. 

He said, “It's hard. Book 2 can be a hard sale for people to negotiate. We had some massive shows this morning and we knew we were getting on the right shortlists and that we were getting some very good second looks. It just blew up and, when it all works out, it's amazing what can happen in that ring. About five lots before the horse went into the ring, we were looking around to see who was down at the barn earlier in the day. Thankfully, it all came together and the ring just warmed up. Everyone you hoped would turn up did and there were just bids coming from everywhere.”

Cope added, “The Brickley brothers and I always team up together at the foal sales when we can. We try to work the sales as hard as we can and sometimes you come across the real deal, which he was. He did everything right for me all week – didn't put in a bad show and, when they do that for you, you can't ask for much more. He vetted really clean and had a great scope, great x-rays and a great attitude. He's just an unbelievably athletic, easy-moving horse.”

Elliott was flanked by MV Magnier and Paul Shanahan as the gavel fell and confirmed that the Coolmore partners were determined to land the colt. 

The agent said, “He is by Camelot and out of a black-type mare who has produced a good horse by Twilight Son. This colt was very well bought by Nick Cope and the boys, and the team was very determined to get him. A lot of the Camelots are real staying types to look at, but I think this mare might speed him up; you could be looking at anything from 7f as a two-year-old and then as an older horse to a mile plus. We all liked the idea that she would put in speed.”

Breeders Of Ombudsman Enjoy Another Day In The Sun With Night Of Thunder

Ombudsman's breeder James Hanly warmed up for Saturday's Qipco Champion Stakes by recording yet another memorable day in the sales ring when selling a Night Of Thunder filly to Henry Lascelles for 700,000gns. 

Hanly sold Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder), who is a general 15-8 favourite for what is being billed as one of the races of the season, at this sale in 2022 for 340,000gns. 

The master of Ballyhimikin Stud in Ireland has been well-rewarded for his loyalty to sire sensation Night Of Thunder and, along with co-breeders Anthony Stroud and Trevor Stewart, enjoyed another day to remember at Park Paddocks with this filly going to Lascelles on behalf of a major owner-breeder in Britain. 

“Night Of Thunder has been an absolute revelation. He's been fantastic for us and we've been so lucky to be involved with him,” said Hanly's son, Jack. “We've been on the bandwagon for a long time now; I don't think we sent him a mare in his first season but every year after that we have. That's really down to Anthony Stroud, he knew from the start how good he was and he kind of bullied us into following him!” 

He added, “This filly had a lot of vets, there was a lot of chat about her and a lot of interest. She was an absolute queen down at the box and she was foot perfect here in the ring. We were expecting a good result but this is huge.”

The Night Of Thunder filly is out of Princesse de Saba (Dariyan), who placed in Group 3 company when in training in France. She was sourced by Stroud for €87,000 at Arqana in 2021 and has already proved to be a solid producer for connections, given her Mehmas colt made 270,000gns at this sale last year. 

“The mare has done us proud,” Jack continued. “The half-brother we sold last year was a really good first foal and he's gone down to Australia. She's a nice, attractive mare and I think you have to buy them on the physical as well as the pedigree, and hopefully they'll pass that onto their stock. We loved her from the very beginning.” 

That sale contributed towards what has been a memorable two weeks or so for Ballyhimikin, with the farm selling seven yearlings at Book 1 for 3,605,000gns and a further eight yearlings at Book 2 for a combined sum of 1,975,000gns. 

“We've had a great crop of yearlings this year and people seem to like them, so hopefully they'll carry on and do well on the track now,” Jack said. “That's the most important thing.” 

Asked whether the Hanlys would be making their way towards Ascot to support one of Night Of Thunder's leading performers on Saturday, Hanly concluded, “We can't miss it. It's the race of the year. It'll be some shootout.”

Subplots

Night Of Thunder put in a dominant performance at Book 2, with 17 lots selling for a combined sum of 5,525,000gns. His 325,000gns average was 134,353gns clear of his nearest pursuer, Starman.

Baaeed was the leading first-season sire by both aggregate (2,314,000gns) and average (144,625gns), but the positive reaction to the first yearlings by Perfect Power shouldn't go unnoticed. From seven lots sold to Baaeed's 16, the progeny of the Darley stallion reached a total of 878,000gns, with the most significant contribution coming courtesy of lot 1078, a colt from Hillwood Stud that went the way of Shadwell for 260,000gns. Given that this first crop was conceived from a fee of just £15,000, Perfect Power's average of 125,429gns makes for impressive reading indeed.

It's nothing new for breeze-up handlers to join forces, but it was still interesting to see Mark Grant and Malcolm Bastard teaming up to buy a Havana Grey filly and two colts by Mehmas for a combined 268,000gns this week. 

It was interesting to see Michel Zerolo's Oceanic Bloodstock get in on the action at Book 2 with eight sourced for 1,067,000 gns. 

Gerrardstown House Stud was responsible for the most expensive colt sold at Tattersalls by Starman when Amo Racing went to 400,000gns to secure lot 1272. “He was Robson Aguiar's favourite since the weekend – he knew the horse beforehand and he knows this type of horse and it made sense to buy him,” said trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy. The colt is out of Tammy Wynette (Tamayuz), the dam of Letherfly, who placed in the Listed Sweet Mimosa Stakes. He is from the family of the champion two-year-old Toormore.

Buy of the day

Granted there are a lot of Minzaals going breezing, Brown Island Stables boss Johnny Collins picked up a nice colt by the first-season stallion for just 28,000gns from Torard House Stud. From quite an active family, he looks well-bought and would be short odds to make profit at the breeze-ups next spring.

Thought for the day

There has been a lot of money spent at the yearling sales this autumn, but that money has been concentrated between a very thin list of buyers at the top end. Book 2 followed a familiar theme with either Alex Elliott, Amo Racing or Anthony Stroud responsible for 13,327,000gns of the total 69,657,500gns spent at Book 2. 

 

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